Am going to do lower control arm bushings soon.
According to Condran's book, urethane LCA bushings use the original
shells and are easy to install as compared to the rubber ones which
in order to install you have to beat out the shells which most say
is a PIA.
I don't care about lack of squeeking or smooth riding in particular.
Anybody done this or have thoughts?

go with the rubber.

find suspension shop or old skool parts store that knows both what a mopar is and what they're doing.
removing/installing the LCA bushing isn't all that big of a deal, and should run you well under 20bux. if you're especially slick, take in your UCA's and rotors and get all the press work out of the way at the same time for one low cost.

anyhoo, if you're in it to win it an air chisel is the hand of God, and takes care of business on a basic level. some pipe, washers and a good length of grade 8 bolt gets you the rest of the way there. on the LCA, give it a rip with the cutter, a quick chisel and it'll fall right out, if it plays like a camel break out the channel locks and get physical with it.

c'mon man, you know you want to do it yourself-- it builds character!
**BFG**

-JYH
master of the 3lb sledge, expert in blunt force trama

i used to think that i effed up things on my car because i drank while i swung wrenches. then one day i didn't have a drop and realized that i eff things up on my car cuz i'm stupid. (Special K, 10/02)

My Dart uses poly bushings - although I took the lazy way out and had a machine shop press them in. No complaints about the ride quality - it even rides better with poly bushings and 0.870" torsion bars than it did with thoroughly trashed rubber bushings and 0.830" bars. Doug does have a few notes about an issue poly bushings can have for truly hardcore corner burners in that they allow a bit more wiggle along one axis, but for a street car with decent handling poly bushings are no problem on a Mopar. (Strangely, they're another story on some other brands; it depends on how badly they can bind.)

_________________
"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

I have poly bushings on my Valiant and I love them. I now replace all suspension bushings with poly on everything in the fleet from 4x4 1 ton to Valiant and back on through mudbogger. None of them squeek. None of them have a smooth ride either.....

_________________
Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I would take a very close look at the front suspension. It is held together with bonded rubber/steel bushings. These bushings, center and control all points of movement. When I replaced the bushings on the front, I used rubber replacements for UCA and the LCA. I used poly on the strut rods and the rear springs.

The kits that I know about just push the poly bushings into the old steel shells. To me, this would lose the centering quality of the OEM bushings. This would lead to possible movement around the anchor points. Some people have actually experienced this problem.

The poly ones that reuse the old shells SUCK. I have them in my Scamp and that car cant hold an alinment to save its life. The reson alot more people dont have problems with them (from what others have told me) is that MOST people have swaybars..which help hold the LCA in place. This is not the swaybars job.

Since I dont have a sway bar my LCA is all over the place. There is nothing to keep it from moving in and out.

I just brought a full rebuild kit for my RoadRunner and it came with the push in poly LCA bushings...im tossing them out and using stock rubber for the LCA.

(these are the push in poly LCA bushings...B-Body)
<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/cralt/DSC00219.JPG" width=400>

True dat...
While historically the poly bushings gave a little less compliant ride, with 1.04 bars and QA1 shocks set to full firm that was the least of my worries. *laughs*
All kidding aside, when running poly LCA bushings it's always a good idea to run poly or solid strut rod mount and NEVER forget to put the washer on the LCA stud and torque properly. Don't ask why...

Now if you're running steel and nylon LCA bushings, the whole game changes again...

-JYH
i'm not crazy... i'm just different. yeah. a whole lot different...
SoCal

How did you remove the old bushing? I read on the web that you should burn out the old LCA bushing if you're using poly. Pressing it out stretches the shell causing the poly to be too loose.
One question I have (I'm doing this on my Cordoba right now) is do you do this (burn out the bushing) with the pivot shaft still in the LCA? Or do you have to press the pivot shaft out first? This is my first front end rebuild so any input is appreciated.

I would press the lca pivot out to avoid damage if you want to reuse it. this site sells a kit that that makes it damn easy to redo the whole front.
http://gearsandrears.com/americanmuscleparts.html
I am ready to put in those same bushing kit you have but having second thoughts on the poly LCA. I am planning on doing some heavy cornering. I got Moog susp parts and used the poly seals out of the kit for bj and tierod seals. I got the aluminum adj struts and tierod sleeves, Mopar performance .99 torsion bars & 1" sway. ready for a wild ride.